{"id":4624,"date":"2026-01-08T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.fau.edu\/canvas\/?p=4624"},"modified":"2026-01-08T10:28:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T15:28:28","slug":"welcome-to-spring-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.fau.edu\/canvas\/2026\/01\/08\/welcome-to-spring-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to Spring 2026!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Instructional Technologies team has got your back and is ready to help with any IT needs and questions as you get your courses up and published. We offer a variety of services, including workshops, one-on-one appointments, general support, and other resources to get you ready for the new semester. Check out the documents and tips below to get started:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Course Accessibility Updates<\/strong><ul><li>The <strong>Accessibility Report<\/strong> tool <strong>Ally<\/strong> is enabled by default in all courses. This tool helps you identify and fix most accessibility issues within your Canvas courses.<\/li><li>If you don&#8217;t see the <strong>Accessibility Report<\/strong> link in your course, add it by <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fau.edu\/canvas\/documents\/ally\/enable-ally-in-canvas.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">following the steps in our guide<\/a><\/strong>.<\/li><li>We host a myriad of various training including how to best utilize Ally in your course as well as how to make a PDF accessible. If you&#8217;d be interested in joining us for a training, we encourage you to <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/techevents.fau.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">sign up<\/a><\/strong> today.<br><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Simple Syllabus Accessibility Check<\/strong><ul><li>You can now check and remediate accessibility issues for your syllabi in Simple Syllabus by clicking the accessibility checker button (person icon) located at the bottom right of the syllabus editor.<\/li><li>Then, make sure your syllabus appears in your Canvas course by <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fau.edu\/canvas\/Files\/simple-syllabus\/enable-simple-syllabus.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">adding it to the navigation menu in your course<\/a><\/strong>.<br><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Lockdown Browser Updates<\/strong> &#8211; two new features to choose from in your Lockdown Browser settings:<ul><li><strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/support.respondus.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/37037944679451-Using-Excel-with-Respondus-Monitor\" target=\"_blank\">Word &amp; Excel While Testing<\/a><\/strong>: You can now enable a feature for students to switch to the desktop version of <strong>Microsoft Word <\/strong>or <strong>Excel <\/strong>while taking a Lockdown Browser assessment.<\/li><li><strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/web.respondus.com\/screen-recording-for-respondus-monitor\/\" target=\"_blank\">Screen Recording<\/a><\/strong>: Respondus Monitor (the webcam proctoring part of Lockdown Browser) now allows for screen recording to allow you to view what your students see while taking your exams.<\/li><li>If you copy previously created Lockdown Browser exams from past courses, remember to <strong>click the Lockdown Browser <\/strong>link in the navigation menu for your course to bypass a common issue that prevents students from accessing those exams.<br><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>AI Training Courses<\/strong><ul><li>Whether its learning how to <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/canvas.fau.edu\/enroll\/L7W9H4\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/canvas.fau.edu\/enroll\/L7W9H4\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>strengthen your prompting skills when using AI<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"color: initial\"> or <\/span><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/canvas.fau.edu\/enroll\/9LYCYJ\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/canvas.fau.edu\/enroll\/9LYCYJ\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>building a foundation of AI fluency<\/strong><\/a> <span style=\"color: initial\">the courses from our AI Chronicles series might be more your speed.<\/span><\/li><li>If you&#8217;d prefer to participate in a live session and learn in person, COCE&#8217;s <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fau.edu\/ai\/ai-plaiground\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.fau.edu\/ai\/ai-plaiground\/\" target=\"_blank\">AI PL<em>AI<\/em>GROUND<\/a><\/strong> sessions and our other Copilot\/Gemini trainings should be able to help. Visit our <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/techevents.fau.edu\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/techevents.fau.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">TechEvents Calendar<\/a><\/strong> to register today.<br><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Check Out Our New Zoom Studio!<\/strong><ul><li>OIT is proud to announce that we have opened a brand new Zoom studio! This room is full of top-of-the-line equipment to help bring your lectures, presentations, and meetings to a whole new level. For those interested, fill out <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/forms.office.com\/pages\/responsepage.aspx?id=wcnDYyToP0G0NS8Mq7KCj2boqIwObx9EvodGyfJ8yUFUOEtDVjFSVTlUWFNCNEJXVFJLVUYzVkNZVC4u&amp;route=shorturl\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/forms.office.com\/pages\/responsepage.aspx?id=wcnDYyToP0G0NS8Mq7KCj2boqIwObx9EvodGyfJ8yUFUOEtDVjFSVTlUWFNCNEJXVFJLVUYzVkNZVC4u&amp;route=shorturl\" target=\"_blank\">this form<\/a><\/strong> so you can be among the first to try this sophisticated studio and provide us with insightful feedback. <\/li><li>Interested in reading more about the new studio? <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.fau.edu\/canvas\/2025\/07\/25\/unleash-your-creativity-explore-oits-high-tech-vc-studio\/\">Read our blog post for more info.<\/a><\/strong> <br><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Stay up-to-date with our team<\/strong>:<ul><li>You&#8217;re already reading out blog &#8211; why not <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.fau.edu\/canvas\/subscribe\/\" target=\"_blank\">subscribe<\/a><\/strong> while you&#8217;re at it? Scroll to the bottom of this page, enter your FAU email address in the box to the bottom-left, and hit that red <em>Subscribe<\/em> button.<\/li><li>Visit our <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/techevents.fau.edu\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/techevents.fau.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">TechEvents Calendar<\/a><\/strong> frequently to see our schedule of workshops and events covering topics from beginner Canvas tutorials, to new updates to our systems, grading, video lecture recording, and video conferences in\/out of the classroom.<br><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Do you feel like you need a helping hand with your course(s)?<\/strong><ul><li>Get one-on-one help from our staff by <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/techevents.fau.edu\/appointments\/online\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/techevents.fau.edu\/appointments\/online\" target=\"_blank\">scheduling an appointment.<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li>If you&#8217;re facing a specific issue or have any technical difficulties, <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/helpdesk.fau.edu\/TDClient\/Requests\/ServiceCatalog?CategoryID=5354\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/helpdesk.fau.edu\/TDClient\/Requests\/ServiceCatalog?CategoryID=5354\" target=\"_blank\">put in a help request with our team<\/a><\/strong> and get that problem solved!<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Instructional Technologies team has got your back and is ready to help with any IT needs and questions as you get your courses up and published. We offer a variety of services, including workshops, one-on-one appointments, general support, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2999,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[82,79,5,4,81,8,62],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.fau.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4624"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.fau.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.fau.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.fau.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2999"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.fau.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4624"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.fau.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4627,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.fau.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4624\/revisions\/4627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.fau.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.fau.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.fau.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}